Happily Never After
by Ivoryyy
Summary: THIS IS A SEQUEL TO DESTINED TO DIE, FATED TO FIGHT! Zach and Cammie are a "perfectly married couple" living a "normal" life. Well, that's what it looks like to the outsiders. Meanwhile, the two are tracking down the CoC and silencing them, permanently.
1. Repetition

**Here is your sequel to _Destined to Die, Fated to Fight._ I hope you enjoy it! I made it a mix of the two choices, I thought it would be funner this way =) Remember to review!**

* * *

"So, how long do you think this house is gonna last?" I asked.

"What do you mean?" Zach said, setting down the one bag we had with us in the living room. It was a rather small house, but cozy. It had taken two months to renovate and get furniture in so I was glad to finally be stepping in it and be able to call it home. For now.

"Zach, please, we haven't settled down anywhere for the past three years. The previous house lasted around four months." I headed for the bathroom then added over my shoulder. "That's a new record by the way."

Before I shut the door I heard him say. "Well, let's hope we make it over four months here."

_2 months ago…_

"Ali!" I heard Jennifer's voice call to me from our rickety front door. Jennifer was our neighbor; I'd known her ever since we'd moved in.

You're probably wondering why she was calling me Ali instead of Cammie. This is because when Zach and I escaped the Circle we knew that there was a possibility that they would still be out there. And they were; we had tracked down at least a dozen of them already. So whenever we got rid of one of them we had to move from wherever we were currently staying, change our appearance and therefore our whole identity. This has been going on for around 3 years already. Yes, I am not ashamed to admit it, I am 21. Anyway, back to the whole identity thing. A constant that remained in every single one of them was that Zach and I were a married couple. Weird I know, but it was necessary. So he said. At the moment I was known as Alison with dark brown hair and green eyes, married to Dean Davis (Zach, in case you forgot already) with blond hair and pale grey eyes.

"Jenny!" I set down the dish I was washing and made my way to her. My shorts and T-shirt were a bit wet from a few spills but otherwise I was fine. We hugged eachother tightly and I couldn't get used to the fact that this friendship was temporary and that when we had to move again that I'd have to forget ever meeting her. "Where's John?" John was her husband. Her _real _husband unlike Zach.

Before she could answer we heard him grunt and say. "I'm here." He was hulking a giant box that he had to peek over to see me. He bumped into the doorframe. "Damn, Ali, you need bigger doors."

I laughed. "I think you need a smaller box. What's in there anyway?"

He set it down. "Jenny here said that you guys needed a dish washer, so here you go."

My eyes widened. "What? You're kidding right?"

He shrugged. "Consider it an early birthday present."

I turned to Jennifer with an exasperated look. "Jen, I already told you a hundred times that we're fine without a dish washer."

She rolled her eyes. "I know, I know, but it gets so frustrating seeing you working all day long with Dean at work. So I thought we'd spare you the trouble and get you one. You're welcome by the way." She gave me a pointed look.

I sighed, knowing there was no use arguing with her. "Thank you."

"So, when is Dean coming home?" John asked. He wasn't asking because he didn't want to chat with us, he actually enjoyed our company, which was very different to most men I knew.

I glanced at the clock, it was almost six. "He should be here any minute. Do either of you want tea while you're waiting?"

They both said yes and sat down on the couch. I headed off to the kitchen and poured them tea. I poured myself a cup as well. When I got back Jenny was looking through our bookshelf. Most of the books we had were just decoration. Zach and I most definitely didn't spend our free time reading. We generally spent it figuring out where another Circle member could be located. "Why don't you have any photo albums?"

This was a question people typically didn't ask (not that anyone hadn't asked before) so I was always not ready to answer. "Uh, I dunno, why do we need any?"

She turned to me as though I were stupid. "Photo albums hold memories that you forget over time. You can show them to your kids and-" Another thought crossed her mind and she dropped her previous one. "When are you two going to have kids?"

I choked on the tea I was drinking and John patted my back. "Uh, that's not exactly an option that Dean and I have explored yet…"

John picked up our 'wedding' picture from the table and looked at it closely. Jenny sat down on the armrest beside him and smiled. "I can never get enough of this picture. You two are so gorgeous together."

I smiled. Heard that before too. "Thank you." I moved closer to them and then noticed something that could end everything for Zach and me. Most of our wedding pictures were photoshopped by Zach and he made sure they all looked different. This time he had made a mistake. A mistake in my eye colour. Instead of the green I had now they looked more blue, like my natural colour. _Oh crap…_

I heard the front door open and I got up quickly. "There he is." I headed for the entrance and smiled when I saw him, keeping up the perfectly married couple façade. "Hey, honey." I gave him a quick kiss. "We have company."

"Oh?" He raised his eyebrows, taking off his jacket. "Who?"

"It's Jenny and John." I gestured to the gigantic box behind me. "They got us a dish washer." I leaned in to his ear and lowered my voice. "We may have a problem." I giggled a pretend giggle as though we were telling eachother sweet nothings and not that we may have blown our covers. Zach caught on quickly, but not before giving me a look as though I were crazy. I was getting a lot of these looks today.

He didn't reply but I understood what we had to do next. My flip flops made too much noise as I crept toward the living room to see if they were still there. "Shit!" They were gone. Zach understood and slammed his foot into the wall beside the front door. No, he wasn't doing this out of anger. We had stowed a bag there that contained essential items for times when he had to disappear like this. He grabbed it and I found the gun I had hidden in the bottom of the closet in a ratty shoe.

"Wait!" I yelled. "Check the box."

He carefully bent close to it then grabbed my hand and we ran out the door, my flip flops slowing me down. I couldn't just take them off though and leave them lying in the grass because if anyone returned here it could be evidence. "That box was most definitely beeping." In case you don't understand what he was implying, there was a bomb in the box.

"I'll drive." I said, walking to the driver's side as he put the bag in the trunk.

"No, Cam, you're in shotgun." He protested.

"Are you really going to argue about this right now?" I countered.

"Are you?" He looked up at me and shut the trunk.

I groaned and gave in. "Men."

He started the car once we were both in, going as fast as possible and I started typing into the laptop that we always kept in it. "Chillax, Gallagher Girl. It's just one trip. Besides, your aim is better than mine."

What he was talking about was that as he was driving I had to shoot Jenny and John once we got near them. "Did you really just compliment me?" We may be 21 but we're still the 17 year olds we used to be.

He smirked at me. "Don't let it go to your head."

"Not happening any time soon." I said under my breath. Then the computer beeped as we got a fix on their location. I said out the name of the road and he took a sharp right turn. "They're on their car and they're going fast. They're on the highway right now, soon coming off it- Wait what?"

Zach glanced at me. "What's wrong?"

"They've gone off the highway but they're not on any roads." I took in our surroundings, comparing it to the computer screen. I pointed to where we had to go. "There, we need to get to the fields."

He swerved the car quickly between two houses and then we were driving in a field.

"Floor it." I demanded and surprisingly, he complied.

The field flew past us, tiny daisies getting crushed under the wheels. Minutes later we were metres away from Jenny and John. I rolled down the window and aimed for their wheels. I shot off two bullets, getting one of their rear tires. Their car immediately slowed and then gunshots were everywhere. Our car was bulletproof but not soundproof. I ducked and one flew inside the car. "Dammit." I got up and fired again. Their glass shattered, exposing the two of them. Jenny was driving and John was shooting. Before he could react I shot him. "Stop the car Jenny!" She didn't. She fumbled with something in her left hand and I knew it was a gun. I pulled the trigger and she was down.

Zach turned and sped up even more. Their car flipped twice then crashed.

I sighed and rolled the window up.

"Well that was fun." Zach said.

I glared at him. "Shut up and drive."

"Whatever you say, Your Highness."

I glanced at the speedometer. "And slow down."

He dropped the speed by a lot but we were still going fast enough to escape and never be found.


	2. Disturbances

"Zach, move your ass would you?" I said.

We were in bed and he was hogging up too much space. He didn't move but I knew very well that he had heard me. I shoved him with my legs but he didn't budge.

I groaned and snatched his pillow out from underneath his head and whacked him with it.

I grabbed the blanket as I got up and took my pillow too. "Fine, you won't move I'm sleeping on the couch. Good night" I slammed the bedroom door shut and walked into the living room. I spread out the blanket on the couch and lay down. Minutes later I was fast asleep.

* * *

I woke up early, but most definitely not by my own will. Zach had decided to make himself a juice using the new machine we'd just bought. And let me tell you, the noise it was making tempted me to throw it out the window.

I shot up and yelled at him. "What the hell Zach?"

He barely even looked at me. "Someone got up on the wrong side of the bed."

"Try couch." I got up and walked to where he was standing. "You couldn't have done that in an hour?"

"Nope." He stopped the machine and poured the juice into a cup. "So, how'd you sleep?"

I smacked the back of his head, Bex-style. "How did I sleep? You want to know how I slept? Here's how I slept." I took his cup before he could react and poured the contents over him. He gaped at me and I just smirked at him. "Payback's a bitch isn't it."

He smirked at me and my eyes widened, knowing he was planning something. He picked up the machine and dumped the chopped up fruits on me. My jaw dropped and my eyes closed as they slithered down my face and shirt.

"It sure is." He said.

I glared at him then ran to the bedroom. He knew immediately what I was doing. I dropped onto the bed and rolled all over his side, the fruits falling off me. His arms went around me but I gripped the bed, refusing to move. He gave up after a minute of struggle. "You can sleep here tonight." With that he left.

* * *

I found him on the front porch, watching the sunset. I noticed how beautiful he looked in this lighting. Then I realized how I hadn't had much time to feel anything but annoyance with him for a while.

He was sitting on one of the sunbeds and I sat down beside him. "Hey." I said quietly, handing him a glass of cold water. It was really hot out and we were both wearing light clothes. He took it and gave me a quick smile.

I cleared my throat. "So I cleaned up the bed, it should be fine."

He smirked at me. "Good to know."

We sat in silence for a while just watching the sky change colour. I occasionally snuck glances at him and he always caught my eye. He raised an eyebrow, prompting me to say whatever I had to say.

I sighed. "Zach, are you happy?"

He gave me a sidelong look. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, we pretend to be this happy and perfect couple but I want to know if you feel it." I explained.

He didn't reply for a while but he didn't tear his gaze away from mine. Then he reached for my hand and held it in his. "Gallagher Girl, when I'm with you, of course I'm happy."

* * *

**Damn, sorry thats short, i promise to write a long chappie =P I hope you're enjoying it so far!**

**_~Ivoryyy_**


	3. People

"Are you sure you'll be fine alone?" Zach asked me, picking up the car keys from the table.

"Yeah." I waved it off. "I've been alone at home before." His look was still doubtful and I gave him a push to the door. "Zach, really," I laughed. "Go. You need to land this job."

He sighed but I knew that he was still worried about letting me stay alone at home. "Maybe you could go over to the neighbors'?"

"Zach, stop it. I'm going to go get the groceries later, I'll hardly be home." I reassured him

"Maybe you should take the car then. I'll take the subway or something." He offered.

"_Please,_" I insisted. "Just go, you'll be late."

"Okay fine." He glanced at his watch even though he pretty much knew the time already without looking at it. "Fine." He repeated and gave me a quick kiss on the lips (definitely unexpected). "I'll be back soon. I'll probably be home shortly after you get the groceries."

I smiled. "Don't rush."

Before he left he decided to turn back for a moment to give me another kiss. Only this one was longer and softer. It wasn't robotic or pretend, it was real and I knew he was feeling something. His hands stayed over my arms and mine found his face. He was the first one to pull back.

"Okay, maybe try to hurry a bit." I bit my lip to stop myself from grinning to wide.

He laughed. "Don't worry, I will."

He left the house and 10 minutes later I was out too. I shouldered my bag and tied my hair up into a high ponytail. I straightened my blue shirt and silently hoped that I'd dressed well enough. Being in a new town meant having an identity. And hopefully a good one. I wanted to set a good impression so I'd dressed better and put more make up on than usual.

I flagged down a cab and told the driver the address I wanted to get to. He was a nice man. He made small talk, telling me his name was Thomas and where the nice places were in town. Where I could get the things I wanted. It was a nice drive and it went by quickly, even though it had taken 25 minutes. I thanked him and he gave me his number (not his personal one, just in case I needed a lift).

I strolled into the small shop and picked out the things I needed. I plunked some tomatoes into a bag and weighed them. Then I did the same with pears, cucumbers, apples, apricots, and plums. Soon enough my arms were full and I saw a watermelon. It reminded me of Zach since he liked them so I decided to get one. I lifted it but I had too many bags. It fell out of my hands and rolled down into another aisle. I cursed under my breath and went after it. Another pair of arms beat me to it though.

A guy my age with blonde hair and gorgeous blue eyes picked it up then smiled at me. "You drop this?"

I nodded. "Yup, I sure did."

He noticed all the bags that I was juggling. "Want me to carry this up to the counter for you."

"Oh, that would be great," I laughed.

"So, you're new in town huh?" He said.

"Uh, yes. I am. Just moved in a few days ago with my husband. How can you tell?" I asked. Was he a CoC member?

"I work here. Well I help out actually." He corrected himself. "I have a friend who works here so I come by sometimes when he's having a rough time. My name's Josh by the way."

_Oh wonderful._ Yet another reminder of my past life. And a rather unwanted one too, seeing as the Josh I knew had also been my boyfriend.

"I'm Audrey."

"So, you're married, huh?" He said.

_No really. _"Yeah. A few months now."

He smirked at me. "You sure you're not too young?"

I shrugged. I got this a lot. Especially when I had been 18 and 19. Lots of people had assumed that Zach and I were 'married' because I was knocked up. "Dunno. I don't really think age matters if you're with someone you want to be with the rest of your life."

"So, he's the one. huh?"

God, this guy said 'huh' way too much. It was really starting to irritate me. "I guess so." I sighed. Hopefully it sounded like a dreamy sigh instead of a sigh that said like-I-have-a-freaking-choice-whether-he's-the-one-or-not.

We got to the counter and I set down all of the stuff. He carefully put down the watermelon. A guy saw me and smiled.

"Uh, Audrey, this is my friend Aden." Josh said.

I smiled at him and we shook hands. "Hi, nice to meet you."

"Likewise. You new around here?" He asked.

"Wow, is it really that obvious?"

"You're just not one of our regulars." He commented. "We don't get many people around here."

Another man came up behind us and I have to say, he was creepy. He had all sorts of tattoos going down his arms and one up the right side of his face. A few of them were Chinese symbols for 'Death' and 'Snake'. He gave me a bad vibe and he kept looking at me.

Aden finished registering all the items and read out the price to me. I paid him and picked up the bags again.

Josh decided to help me get the watermelon into the cab and I thanked him for it. Before I got in the cab I noticed the scary guy shove his way out of the store angrily, muttering obscenities in Chinese.

"Thank you, Josh." I said, ignoring him.

"No problem." He stepped back. "If you ever want to hang out, you know where to find me."

I smiled. "Okay, I'll come by some time. Promise."

He raised an eyebrow and held up his pinky. "Pinky promise?"

I laughed and hooked mine around his. "Pinky promise."

* * *

When I got home I put all the stuff I'd gotten into the fridge and decided to have a bath. I let the water fill up the bath and I made my way back to the kitchen to have some watermelon. I knew I probably should wait for Zach to get home and surprise him with it but it wouldn't hurt if I had a little bit.

So I took out a knife from the drawer and started slicing it up on a plate. I heard the front door open and close softly. Zach was home. Judging by how quietly he'd come in I guessed he was trying to surprise me. So I played along, continuing to chop up the watermelon into small cubes.

Footsteps came from behind me and that's when I turned. I gasped and saw the Chinese man. He lunged for me and I darted out of his way. He turned and grabbed my wrists, snatching away the knife. It clattered to the floor and he slammed me against the wall. I lifted my leg and kicked him back. I ran to the counter grabbing the plate. He recovered quickly and I shattered it against his head. He took me down to the ground and I reached out for the knife. His hands were at my throat and I gasped for breath. Black spots clouded my vision but I refused to black out. Finally my fingers made contact and I brought it up, slashing it against his neck. He moved away from it and I scrambled away from him, into the living room.

I ran but he caught me and threw me over the couch into the wooden table. This time I could hardly move. I couldn't scream for help as he strangled me again. My legs at last started up again and I lifted my knee to his crotch. He fell to the side and I dashed out of the room.

The front door was too far and he was right behind me. The bathroom. It was right in front of me so I darted inside. The man was too strong for me though, he had taken all my strength away when he threw me into the table. I struggled to get the door shut but then he shoved with all his might and I stumbled into the almost full bathtub.

He took advantage of the situation and plunged me into the water. I clawed at his hand desperate to have air. He didn't let go of me and I couldn't take it any longer. My vision blacked out and the last thing I saw was my own red blood mixing with the water.

* * *

My eyes shot open and I coughed up a load of water. It spilled out of me like a flood and when it was over I was left coughing and gasping for breath. My whole body trembled and I saw that I was on the tiled floor of the bathroom.

"Oh, thank God." I heard Zach say. He pulled me to his chest and I gripped his shirt tightly. "Cammie, are you ok?"

I coughed and took in a shaky breath. I couldn't answer him. Tears stung my eyes and I held him tighter. His arms went all the way around me and one hand went to the back of my head.

"You're alive." He said. "Oh God, I thought I'd lost you."

I moved my head and pressed closer to him but then sucked in a breath and winced. My hand moved to my head and I touched it gingerly.

"Where does it hurt?"

"The easier question would be where doesn't it hurt." I grunted in pain once I could speak.

His eyes were concerned as he took in the full damage. "Hold on, let me get you an ice pack." Before he got up he looked back. "Do not move."

As soon as he had let me go my body slumped back against the bath, too weak to hold itself up. I examined my body and saw how badly hurt I was. Bruises were threatening to show and gashes covered my arms. I could feel that my face was pretty beaten up and I wasn't sure if I wanted to see it. Mostly though, my head hurt. My ears were ringing and a headache throbbed worse and worse with every minute. It was very painful to breathe from inhaling water and my voice was scratchy.

Zach came back and handed me the ice pack. "I'm going to move you, okay? Tell me straight away if the pain is too much, got it?"

I nodded and he picked me up carefully. I winced but I knew I could handle it. He gently laid me down on the couch that I had fallen over and put a pillow beneath my head.

I put the ice pack over the right side of my face. "How bad am I?"

"Pretty bad. Your attacker got you pretty good." He picked up the home phone and started dialing.

"What are you doing?"

"Calling the police." He put the phone to his ear but I snatched it away and hung up.

"Have you gone crazy?" I snapped.

"Cam, someone _attacked _you. I found you in an overflowing bathtub all battered up. You've got a huge bruise on the right side of your face and I can see from the kitchen and this table how bad this was." He tried to take the phone but I held it away from him.

"Zach, no. I won't let you call the police. This was nothing, I'll be fine. It was just one of those pranks. Some Chinese guy from the store must have followed me home. It's my fault, I should've been more careful." That's when I saw the look on his face. The look of guilt and complete self-loathing. "Zach, this didn't happen because of you! This is not your fault!"

"I left you alone at home and _this _happens. Of course it's my fault!" He argued.

I shook my head. "Zach, we can't stay home all day watching eachother the whole time. We're going to have to accept that things like this will happen every once in a while."

"Yeah? Well I won't accept it." He held out his hand. "Give me the phone and let me call the police. Or at least an ambulance."

I stuffed the phone under my pillow. "No."

He groaned out of frustration and collapsed beside me. "Why can't you be so stubborn for once?"

"Why do you always have to take the blame for everything!" I retorted.

We sat in silence for a few minutes and I felt my eyes droop. Well mostly my left eye since my right one had a massive bruise on it so it was already shut. "I can't feel my face anymore." I lifted the ice pack and felt that my face was wet from it.

"You should keep it on." He said.

I tried to sit up.

"Gallagher Girl." He warned. I ignored him.

I sat up and then gave up, leaning against him.

"Give it time, Gallagher Girl. You don't heal from this sort of thing in 5 minutes." He advised.

I sighed. "Fine."

He leaned back for a second and took out a small bottle and some gauze. He lightly dabbed at the painful areas around my face, arms and neck then asked me if I was hurting anywhere else.

"Not really. I mean, I don't think I have anymore scratches or anything."

"You sure?"

I lifted my gaze to his. "Positive."

* * *

**Sorry the ending sucks to this, I didnt know how to make it a nice ending so there it is. And as I promised I made this chapter super long.**

**So what do you think so far? Is this sequel good? Any suggestions? Let me know if you have any comments =)**

**_~Ivoryyy_**


	4. Morning

"Gallagher Girl." I heard a voice say in my ear.

I moaned, keeping my eyes shut. I knew it was the morning but I was still tired. I pulled the covers over my head but he lightly brought the back down.

"Come on, Gallagher Girl." He laughed. "You can't sleep all day."

"Go away." I grumbled.

He slunk his arm around my waist and brushed his lips on my cheek then my neck.

I smiled and tried to push him away, even though I was enjoying this.

"Get up." He whispered. He kept repeating it over and over.

I opened my eyes and sighed. "Okay, I'm up. What time is it anyway?"

"Doesn't matter. And no, you're not up."

I frowned. "Yes I am."

"Nope. You're up when you're on your feet, standing, not lazing around in bed."

I scowled at him and flopped onto my stomach, once again closing my eyes. "Fine. Then I'm not up." Before I knew it he'd grabbed me around the waist and slung me over his shoulder. "Oh come on!"

"I gave you a fair chance, Gallagher Girl. You should know better." I could practically hear the smirk in his voice.

"I hate you." I snapped.

"No you don't."

"No I don't." I sighed.

He plopped me down on a seat in the kitchen. He took out a box of cereal, milk, and two plates.

"You're in an awfully cheery mood today." I noted.

He glanced up at me. "I guess I am."

I leaned forward. "Wanna tell me why?"

He handed me a spoon and I poured the cereal and milk into my bowl. "We're in a new town, Gallagher Girl. We get to explore and all that. New is fun, don't you think?"

I pressed my lips together, not quite agreeing. "The only reason we're doing this is because we have to other option."

I could tell by the look in his eyes that he was trying to come up with something comforting to say so he settled with, "I know, I know. But it's been working out okay so far. I really think that we'll be fine here."

One corner of my mouth twisted up in an attempt of a smile. I'd be willing to bet that even he knew it was too forced. "I really hope you're right."

"Of course I'm right." There we go, the usual cocky arrogant Zach was back.

"You'd like to think you are." I smirked.

"Are you seriously questioning me?" He said.

"I suppose I am." The awkwardness was gone.

I stirred my spoon in the cereal watching it get all mushy and gross.

He put down his spoon. "You don't like the cereal?"

"It's not that." I avoided his gaze. "It's just… Do you think they're alive?" I asked quietly.

"Who?" He didn't have to ask. He already knew.

"Liz, Bex, Macey, all of them. Do you?" This time I looked at him.

His face was weary and I knew he didn't want to upset me. He bit his lip and carefully mulled over his words as he approached me and kneeled down in front of me. "I really, really want to believe that they are, Gallagher Girl, I'm sorry to say this to you, but I doubt they are. That bomb blew up the whole building and I'm pretty sure that if any one of them had survived that the CoC would've made sure they didn't escape."

I blinked and averted my gaze. "I guess so. I just really wish they were alive. I know I've got you but I still feel so lonely sometimes." My eyes were starting to fill with tears and some spilled out. "It's just we aren't the way we used to be. Sometimes I think you don't even love me anymore."

His thumb wiped away tears from my cheeks. "Hey, why would you say that? Of course I love you."

I shook my head. "When we were on the run three years ago I knew you did. And you made sure I knew. But now. Now we're so caught up with everything else I don't know it anymore."

"Gallagher Girl," He cupped my face in his hands to make sure I was looking at him. "I love you. I do. I'm sorry I haven't been expressing it enough to you lately but I-" He started a new sentence not knowing how to continue that one. "I can't lose you. I can't. I can't bear the thought of ever losing you. I _need _to keep you safe. I think that these few years I've been overdoing it and haven't given you what you needed more. But I need you to believe that I do love you."

I nodded, touched at his words. "I believe you. I do. I really do."

He smiled and kissed me. I knew he was still trying to prove to me that he loved me, but he didn't need to. I knew it. And I loved him. More than anything or anyone in the world. I didn't need anything else except for him. And I could tell he felt the same way.

He picked me up and I hooked my feet around him. Slowly he walked into the living room and set me down on the back of the couch, all the while keeping his mouth glued to mine. Our tongues explored eachother's mouths and our hands roamed eachother's bodies. He pulled his shirt off and began working with the tank top that I wore as a pajama. It slowly came off and all that was separating us were our pants. I opened my mouth wider under his and he moaned against my lips. My hands clawed into his back then found their way up his neck and into his hair. His mouth worked its way down dipping down to my chest.

Just when we were about to reach the point of no return we got a knock at the door. I jumped, startled but Zach groaned.

"Should we pretend we're not here?" He suggested.

I pondered over the thought but decided that would be bad manners. But then again, if the person at the door didn't know we were here then it wouldn't be considered rude. "No. They'll just come back later. Better to get it over with now."

He didn't look pleased by my response but still pulled on his shirt and so did I. We walked to the door and I hoped I didn't look too horrid.

Standing at the door was a young woman in her mid-twenties with blonde hair and green eyes. She took in our attire and smiled tightly. I also remembered that I still had a healing bruise on the side of my face and a few up my arms and legs. "Is this a bad time?"

Zach and I glanced at eachother. Oh yes, a very bad time indeed. Who knew what we'd be doing right now if she hadn't shown up.

"No, it's fine. Just got up is all." I said pleasantly.

She looked like she didn't believe me but barreled on. "Okay," She held out her hand and shook it with each of ours. "I'm Kayla Hathaway. I live with my husband Steve and daughter Ella in the house right next to yours. We didn't introduce ourselves earlier 'cause we wanted to give you time to adjust."

I smiled at her. "I'm Audrey and this is my husband Tyler." Right now I had auburn hair and hazel eyes. Zach had dark brown hair that was almost black and blue eyes. Our last name was Parker.

"Nice to meet you." Zach said.

"Likewise." We stood there awkwardly but she was the one to excuse herself. "Well, I'll leave you guys. I really hope you like our neighborhood. If you ever feel like dropping by feel free. Steve and I love having guests."

"Thank you. We will." I said. That was the second person I'd promised to visit.

She left and we shut the door. "You think we can trust her?" I asked.

"We can't trust anybody, Gallagher Girl." He said.

"So what's our cover this time?"

We sat down on the couch we'd just been making out on. "We came here from Santorini. Both of our mothers are Greek. My father was from America and yours was from Britain. You lost your accent in New York though, where you went to NYU for one year then dropped out. We come from two competitive families that hate eachother's guts. We met when we both started working at the same job. Our families found out and made a huge fuss while we were working so we were fired. We didn't want to stay apart but our families wouldn't have us if we stayed together so we moved here."

"Wow that's complicated. So do I get to talk to you in Greek?"

He smirked at me. "Yes, Gallagher Girl, you do."

I smiled. "Good. This should be fun."

"New towns always are."

* * *

**REVIEW!**


	5. Encounters

"Oh my God, Tyler! Look I found that movie you've been wanting to watch for like, ever!" I called while sucking on a lollipop. He walked around the aisle and approached me. I held up the movie and he smiled.

"You know, you really shouldn't talk while eating that thing." He said, taking the movie from me.

I took it out of my mouth for a second. "I don't care." Then stuck it back in. I smirked at him and he made a face at me then continued browsing.

We were in the movie store called MEGAbusters. Very unoriginal, but they had a ton of good movies so I wasn't complaining.

I walked over to the TV show section and saw the 3rd season of One Tree Hill and took it. I loved the show but hadn't had the time lately to watch it. Zach always said it was a stupid thing to watch but he still watched it with me.

I went to find him and when I did we went to go pay at the counter. The bell over the door jingled as someone came into the store. I placed my things on the counter, crunching down my lollipop, then heard a voice. "Audrey?"

I turned. "Oh hey!" It was Josh. Not good with Zach here.

"Hey, how've you been?" He asked.

"Great, I've been great. How 'bout you?"

"Good. I haven't seen you around lately, what've you been up to?"

"Yeah, sorry about that. We've just been around town you know, getting to know this place better." I said. Then gestured to Zach. "Whoops, um, Josh this is my husband Tyler. Tyler this is…" I pointed to Josh keeping my eyes on Zach's face. "Josh."

He cast me a look and shook Josh's hand. "Nice to meet you, Josh."

"Likewise. You're a lucky man to have this girl." He said, grinning.

Zach was most definitely not smiling. "I know. So, how do you two know eachother?"

I explained before Josh could. "I met him at the supermarket. A few weeks ago. He helps a friend out there."

"Uh-huh." He kept his eyes on me then turned to pay.

I tightened my lips then looked at Josh. "Listen, I'm sorry I haven't been coming by lately. But I will, I promise. I did promise you, remember? And I keep my promises."

He sensed that our conversation was coming to an end. "Okay, I'll be waiting. I'll see you later, Audrey." He left and Zach and I walked out of the store in silence.

We had to walk down a block to where our car was parked, giving plenty of time to talk.

"So, Josh, huh?" Zach said. "I can swear I've heard that name before." He squinted as though remembering something. "Oh wait, I have. Because I know a Josh who used to be your boyfriend."

I focused on the pavement in front of me. "Tyler, I swear it's not like that. It was a coincidence that I met him."

"I understand that. But you didn't have to be so friendly with him." He responded.

"Friendly? I was being polite." I said.

"So polite that he expects you to drop by and hang out sometime." He retorted.

I glared as we turned a corner. "Is it really so bad that I have friends here?"

"You just wait till he gets in your pants."

I gasped and stopped. "You did not."

He came to a halt too. "Ca-Audrey, come on."

I ignored him. "I _cannot_ believe you think this is about _sex_. And no, I won't come on, drive home yourself, _Tyler_. You know, I may even go hitch a ride from_ Josh_, and you'd better hope these _pants_ stay _on._"

I stormed away but didn't head for the store. I really didn't want to face Josh. He was only a reminder of the life I'd left behind. Right then I almost started crying but instead I pulled out my phone and called Thomas, the taxi driver. He met me in 5 minutes. Yes, this town was so small he could find me that fast.

"Is there a long way back to my place?" I asked.

He glanced back at me. "There's a long way and a short way to everything."

I settled back and fingered my purse. "Good. Let's take the long way."

* * *

When I got home Kayla was there. She was talking to Zach in the kitchen. I smiled as though nothing were wrong. But I didn't give him a kiss or anything. I kept my distance. "Hi, Kayla, I didn't know you were coming."

"Oh neither did I, Tyler invited me over." She said.

"Oh he did, didn't he." I turned to Zach with a stressed grin. "How wonderful." I walked to the sink and washed my hands.

"I've been meaning to drop by, just things have been nuts at home with Ella. They'll come by a bit later." She said.

I tapped my fingers, sending a message to Zach in Morse code. _Translation: she thought she could get some alone time with you before your skanky wife came home. _While I was doing that I said. "Great. I really can't wait to meet Ella. Steve too, of course." I added with a smile. Zach shot me an exasperated look. _Sorry, can't help myself being the sex-maniac I am. _I tapped.

She laughed. "Yeah, Ella's excited to met you too."

There was a knock at the door and I went to open it. It was her husband and daughter. "Hi." I welcomed them in.

"Audrey, Tyler this is my husband Steve and this is my daughter Ella." Kayla kneeled down by Ella. "Ella, say hello."

"Hello." Ella said in a shy voice. Then she turned and hid her face in her mother's neck.

Steve shook our hands, introducing himself again.

And that's how our friendships started.

* * *

**Sorry I cut it off there, I got bored and had to end it. But still, I hope you liked it =)**

**I'm gonna try to update Nothing's Impossible right now. So keep your eyes peeled (ive always hated that expression)**

**_Ivoryyy_**


	6. Everything

"You think we can trust them?" I asked, chewing on a breadstick.

We were sitting outside on the front porch, watching the sun go down. I shifted on the steps so that my back was against the railing of the steps. He lifted my legs and put them on his lap. "You mean Kayla and Steve?" I nodded. "Audrey, we can't trust anyone, remember?" After my attack we'd been extra careful around eachother, calling eachother only by our fake names, never our real ones.

I sighed. "I know, but I've got a good feeling about them. I don't think they're bad people."

He gave me a look. "That's what you said about John and Jennifer."

I looked away from his eyes. "Tyler, really, tell me that you get the heeby jeebies around them without lying." He smirked. "You know I can't. We just have to take extra precautions. You never know who's out there."

I cracked a breadstick in half loudly. They were probably a few weeks old already. Maybe even a month. I brushed my auburn hair back and my fingers accidentally touched the circle scars that went around my head. I'd gotten them when the CoC had captured us and drilled a headset into my skull. Every day I had to cover them up, even though they were hardly visible. Every time we changed our identities, we tried to make sure that I had bangs. Just like I did now.

His hand cupped my cheek and brought my face up to look at him. "Hey. What are you thinking about?"

"What got us to this place. The things we've went through." I said.

He pulled me towards him and tucked me under his arm. He stayed silent a few moments before surprising me by saying, "Maybe we could go back one day."

"Go back… To…"

"Roseville." He said. "Maybe we could live there again one day. We can visit the Academy; see if it's being rebuilt."

I lifted my gaze up. "You'd do that? Go back for me?"

He met my gaze and smiled. "I'd do anything for you."

* * *

**Once again, it's short. But you're lucky I even typed this up, I was thinking about putting it off till later, but, I didn't =)**

**Soooo... REVIEW!**

**FIVE GOOD REVIEWS for next update... MEANING: 1) The review is longer than 1 or 2 sentences and 2) It's helpful. Not just 'Update'. Give suggestions too!**

**I will dedicate the next chapter to whoever gives me the best review =) **

_**Ivoryyy**_


	7. Tired

**This chapter is dedicated to _butterfly2995 _**

**Thank you for your amazing review =) I got quite a few but I enjoyed reading yours the most. I used your suggestions as you can see =) So thanks for that. I dont think I'd have written this chapter without it. you also told me what you liked about the previous chapter and I'm glad. I don't usually get reviews like yours. Plus, your review was longer than one sentence =P So that immediately got me interested. Sorry, I really suck at writing responses to people, all I can say is that I really liked your review, and thanks =)**

* * *

"Target is moving down Sunset Lane." I said into my comms unit.

"Got it. Fall back, I've got him." Zach responded with a burst of static following.

I started walking slower but kept hidden in the shadows. I watched the blinking red light on my "watch". We'd found a member from the CoC and pinned a tracking device onto them. Now it was time to get rid of him. I glanced up; hearing a sound in the dark night, but it was just a bird.

A few moments later I heard him say, "I lost him. Where'd he go?"

I glanced at my watch but the red light was gone. "Uhhh, Tyler, he's off my radar, he probably figured out he was being tracked. I kind of got distracted…" I cringed, waiting for his scolding remark.

He groaned. "Audrey…"

"Sorry, sorry." I rushed. Then I heard a shuffling sound, like footsteps. "Zach, get back here. Marx Street. I think he's he-"

Hands grabbed me from behind but before they could attack me I flipped them over my shoulder. Well tried. They were strong and instead twisted my arms behind me. I suppressed a cry of pain and shot my leg out, kicking them wherever I could. Then I twisted around and knocked my head against them. I didn't have any Napotine patches or anything, I had to rely on myself. The only thing I had was a gun. But at the moment, if I moved my hands towards it, I'd probably end up the one knocked out. Permanently.

My legs were swept out from underneath me and I hit the ground. I reached for my gun, but it wasn't there. Suddenly, my attacker was pointing it right at me. "Make one move and you die." The voice was female, not male like I'd thought it would be, but I could tell she was trying to fake another voice so as not to be recognized. She had a black mask on.

I heard another click and then Zach's voice. "Make one move and _you _die."

My attacker froze, not expecting to be outnumbered.

"Oh, but wait," Zach added. "We have to kill you anyway." A gunshot sounded and my attacker fell to the ground.

I scrambled towards the body, flipping her over. Pulling off the mask, I gasped when I saw the face. "Kayla."

Zach looked down at me with a pained expression. "Time to move again."

* * *

"I can't believe this." I said, shaking my head, watching the scenery pass us by as we drove. "I cannot believe it was Kayla."

Zach took my hand and gave it a light squeeze. He kept his eyes on the road though, giving me a quick glance and reassuring smile. "We didn't know. We couldn't've."

"But _you_ did." I protested. "You told me we couldn't trust anyone, yet I still believed that they may have been normal neighbors."

"It's not your fault." He argued. "And I_ didn't _know. I just said we had to be careful."

I slid my hand out from underneath his. "Whatever." We were driving in the middle of nowhere. Again. All around us it was just desert. The ground was dry and cracked, but occasionally trees would whoosh by.

Zach stopped the car, pulling off the road. He turned to me once we came to a full halt. "Gallagher Girl, listen to me. This is not your fault, understand? We didn't know, and there was no way we could've known. You hear me?"

"Yes, Zach, I do." I huffed. "Just drive."

"No, I want to hear you say it." He said.

"Say what?"

"Say that it wasn't your fault."

I rolled my eyes. "Come on, Zach."

"I'm not kidding." He said seriously. "We're not going anywhere until I hear you say it."

"Ughhh." I groaned. "Fine. It wasn't my fault. Happy?"

He smirked. "Yep." He turned back forward. "Now we can go."

* * *

We checked into a crappy motel for the night.

I flopped onto the bed and almost broke my back. "_Oh my God_. This bed is a freaking _rock_."

Zach laughed. "It can't be that bad." He flopped down beside me and winced. I looked over at him. "Ow."

I smacked him with a laugh. "Told you."

I got up and closed the curtains. "This kind of feels like déjà vu, doesn't it? Remember that cabin where we stayed at when we first escaped?"

He grinned at the memory. "Yeah. That was nice." He patted the bed. "Only the beds were a lot softer."

I pulled a hinting smile and straddled his lap. "Who needs beds?" I brought my face closer to his, my lips less than a centimeter away from his. "All we need, is you and me." I smirked at him then hopped off his lap and locked myself into the bathroom, leaving a stunned Zach in the bedroom.

* * *

"Rozera?" I said, repeating the town's name we were going to live in. "_Rozera?_"

"Yes," Zach said in frustration. "It's called Rozera, why, do you have a problem with that?"

I frowned at him. "What happened to you? You're like in the worst mood ever." He ignored me. I made my tone lighter. "Zach… Come on. Talk to me."

He let out a breath he'd apparently been holding. "I'm just tired of doing this." He chose his words carefully. "I'm tired of not being able to trust anyone. I'm tired of having to move from one city to another. I just… I don't know how much I can take. And then there's you."

"What about me?" I blurted.

He sighed. "I don't know if I can leave you alone anymore. After that attack, I just can't."

"Why the hell not?" I snapped.

"Because I can't let anything happen to you!" He retorted. "If something were to happen to you again, I don't know if I'd be able to handle it. And besides, I don't need any more Josh's in our lives."

"This has nothing to do about Josh and you know it." I said.

He relaxed his grip on the wheel. "Sorry. I just… I'm just tired of this."

I turned away from him, looking back out the window. "You're not the only one."

A sign passed us which read _'Welcome to Rozera'_.

Welcome indeed…

* * *

**So I made this chapter longer =) I hope you liked it.**

**Thank you for the reviews, I did get a few good ones =) **

**I'll try updating this story more, just be patient with me. My school is just crazy right now, I'm just barely keeping up with everything, so bear with me. **

_**Ivoryyy**_


	8. Covers

**So first I want to thank a TON of reviewers who have just been amazing to me, supporting me through all this. And I'm sorry I haven't been updating lately, you're lucky I updated this, I was originally planning to update _Friends With Benefits _but chose this instead =P BY THE WAY! For those of you who dont know, I started another story called _Death Be Not Proud_, yes I know I said its like True Blood, but you dont have to like True Blood to like the story. Its about vampires and stuff if thats what gets you going =P I apologize that this chap is short, but my inspiration was rather... lacking by the end =P**

_**Miriam C. Garnet- **_Hun, I absoultely LOVE reading your reviews =) Youve probably got some of the most HELPFUL reviews that I get =P You tell me what you like and even quote your favourite parts, which is the best part =P Also, you write GOOD reviews without me even having to ask! Thank you for reading a lot of my stories and consistently updating =) I always look forward to hearing what you have to say

**_icejen98- _**Well, I don't know what to say except that you are AMAZING to me =) Youre so supportive. I always check who wrote the review I'm reading and when I see that you wrote it I start smiling. Thank you for being SO encouraging and helpful

_**oxlifexo- **_First of all, I love the 'Type Quick' thing =P I always know it's you from that. I'm glad my stories aren't repetitive, you have no idea how relieved I was to hear that =P Thank you for reviewing!

_**Devil On My Shoulder**_**- **First off, I love your name =) I wish I'd come up with something creative instead of just stupid 'Ivoryyy', makes me jealous =P And I think you had an evil smilie prof pic before? It was awesome =P You sound a lot like one of my best friends (thats a good thing btw =P). Haha, I love reading your reviews, theyre so original, not just 'Update'. And the "Kindly and Crazily" at the end of all your reviews is cool =P

_**Khart1997- **_Thanks for being so great in all your reviews =) You said you love me for updating, so I love you for reviewing =P One thing I ESPECIALLY love about your reviews is that you tell me the quotes you liked most in my stories which always is good feedback, so thanks for that. I LOVE your AIM story and 'Trapped and Fearless'.

**_leaps578- _**You're one of the few reviewers that actually write GOOD reviews without me asking =) So that's a definite bonus, for me and you =P I'm glad you like my story and that you can actually picture what's happening as you read. Btw, I love Private too =P

**Sorry if I didn't address you, I can't go on forever and ever ya know? =P If you do want me to respond to you though, you know what the easy steps to that are? (1) Write GOOD reviews! I think everyone knows what that is =P (2) Be HELPFUL. Don't just say 'oh thats really good, update' or 'i didn't like that blah blah blah'. Tell me WHY, explain things. and (3) My favourite reviewers quote lines of the story that they liked best to me =)**

**Just some food for thought =P Now back to the story.**

_**Ivoryyy**_

* * *

"Push!"

"I am!"

"Harder! Zach! Harder!"

"I'm trying!"

"Oh! I feel it! It's moving!"

I shoved at the couch again, it moved only a centimeter. We'd been attempting to move the couch away from the doorway for the past 5 minutes. "I told you we shouldn't set it up first thing. We had to _decide _where we wanted it first, moron."

He stood up, letting go of the couch.

I groaned. "Okay, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to call you a moron. Happy?"

He put his hands back on the couch. "Yes. Ready?" I nodded. "One, two, three!" He started pushing and I pulled. Slowly we got it moving.

"I have never seen a heavier couch." I grunted, gripping the couch. Soon, we got it into the position we wanted it and I collapsed on it, glad to be able to finally enjoy the damn thing.

I let out a sigh and he sat down beside me, lifting my head and putting it on his lap. "Still like new towns?"

He smirked. "Oh yes."

"So, our covers." I said, prompting him.

"Right. So you're Alyssa Sergeyevna, and I'm Nikolai Petrov. So I guess that makes you Alyssa Petrova now. We've been married two months and moved here from Moscow, Russia where you've lived your whole life. I was born in St Petersburg, where I lived for eighteen years before moving to Moscow for university. You used to be a librarian, I used to be a bar tender. We met at in a crowded café and you had no where to sit, so you sat with me. It's been your dream to go to America so now we moved to Rozera and don't know when we're leaving. You love kids but you don't want any. Your parents are divorced, your dad was an alcoholic and your mom was a junkie. My parents died in a car crash. What else do I add?"

I thought about it for a moment. "Uuuhhh… Where we went for our honeymoon I guess?"

He smiled. "New York. We watched five Broadway shows in two days and went to all sorts of museums because you love art. Right, our hobbies, forgot that. You love reading and you appreciate the arts, except you can't paint to save your life. You love cats and dogs since that's basically all you grew up with in Russia. Same with me, except I like dogs more. We never had any pets. I love cooking," I grinned at that, looked like he was gonna be spending a lot of time in the kitchen. "Which is a good thing in this relationship because you can't. Whatever you try to cook… well, burns." He smirked and I smacked him. That wasn't fair. I liked cooking. But if that's what I had to do to see him in an apron, I'd do it. "You hate girls who put on too much make up and shopping for clothes isn't something you enjoy to wasting your life on. Am I correct?" He looked at me, and I nodded. I actually really liked this cover, it was probably the best by far. I didn't even need to add anything in. "Instead of shopping for clothes you'd rather go get books and sit quietly alone somewhere. I hate ice skating because I can't do it, which is why you always make me go to the ice rink. You, on the other hand, are a pro ice skater. Except you suck at basketball, and I don't. I have an allergy to mangos but you like them, except we never have them because of me. My dream is to become an author, and you want to become an artist. Which is why I'm sending you to art classes on Sunday."

I gasped and sat up. "Seriously?" I threw my arms around him. "Thank you! Wait, how do you know they're on Sundays?"

He grinned impishly. "I saw a sign in an art shop that said they had classes, so I figured I'd get you out of the house sometimes, doing something fun."

I squealed and hugged him tighter. Then I pulled back to look him in the eyes. "What happened to being afraid of letting me out of your sight?"

He didn't drop his gaze. Since we were already in our covers his eyes were deep blue and his hair was a dark brown that it looked black. "Well, I figured that if I told you never to leave the house you would do the exact opposite of that, so I'm giving you some freedom. Just be careful, okay?"

I kissed him lightly. "Okay."

Turned out Rozera wasn't all that bad as I thought it would be...

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**_Ivoryyy_**


	9. Hiding

**Okay! For all you Vampire Academy lovers (like me) who are DESPERATELY waiting for Last Sacrifice to come out and haven't seen the latest teasers, here they are. The first is a quote and the second is an Adrian teaser. (Remove the spaces after the dots)**

**15 more days left of the wait!**

http:/www. youtube. com/watch?v=fOz0AnLQgcM

http:/www. youtube. com/watch?v=hzMyL7Z_hg

* * *

I knocked over my glass of water spilling it on my painting that I'd been working hard on to fail. I most definitely knew how to paint, but if my cover meant I had to be bad at art, so be it. "___ч__ер__т_!" I cried out in Russian, leaping up out of my seat. People walking outside glanced in through the window, wondering what the commotion was about.

The girl next to me, Claire, grabbed napkins and started dabbing at the mess. I came out of my stupor and grabbed more napkins, wiping at the paper.

"No! Don't! You'll smudge it!" She warned.

I stopped wiping and just pressed down, gathering the water. When we lifted the napkins all that was left of my painting was a soggy, colourful paper. I pouted and through the papers down. "I can't do it!" I complained.

The teacher, Blair Davees, looked up from her own work and walked up to me. "Alyssa, don't say that. It's just the beginning, of course it's going to be hard." I'd only been here twice, not including this time, and I hadn't improved a bit. I wondered if I should start getting better or keep up this façade for a little longer.

"I know, I just, I've been trying and trying but _nothing_ ever works!" I said.

"Here, let me help." She offered, pulling up an empty chair from behind her. She sat down beside me and mopped up some water from the newspapers that were covering the tables. "First of all, this work is not ruined."

I scowled at it. "Yes it is. I just dumped a whole glass of dirty water on it."

She shook her head. "No. This is actually an opportunity for you." She motioned to the paintbrush. "Take the paintbrush." I did. "Now what were you trying to paint?"

"A beach."

"Choose a colour you want to use." She instructed. I chose turquoise. "Now, paint where you think you want this colour." I frowned then trailed the paintbrush over the part where the water was supposed to be. The paint bled out since the paper was wet. "You see? This is good. Now choose more colours. Perhaps at the horizon you could use a darker blue and near the shore, a lighter one. Then in the sky, you can use your paper towels to blot out clouds. You see, Alyssa? Don't give up on anything. There is always a possibility that you can regain some semblance of what you wanted."

Neither she nor I had any idea how right she was.

* * *

When Zach came home from work I bounded down the stairs from the second floor and jumped into his arms. He kissed me and I lifted my feet as he spun me around. When I pulled back I smiled at him, pressing my forehead against his. "Hey."

"Hey. You're in a good mood." He noted.

"Of course I am, you're home." I replied.

He laughed. "Aly, can I please get in the house?"

I pretended to think about it. "Well," I said, dragging the word out. "What do I get in return?"

He lifted his eyebrows. "Hmm, let's see-" Before he could continue the doorbell rang, cutting him off. "This happens to us way too much." He said.

I nodded in annoyance and we walked to the door.

There stood a couple, a woman my age, a man Zach's age, and a little boy who looked about 4.

_Notice things, _I remembered, studying the three. The woman had short brown hair and blue eyes. She looked like she wore contacts instead of glasses. Her feet were in studded flip flops and she wore a light sundress like me. The man was wiry and had dirty blonde hair and green eyes. His hand was around the woman's waist protectively and holding the little boy's hand. The little boy looked completely different from them. He had light blonde hair and blue eyes that neither of them had.

The woman smiled and stuck her hand out. "Hi, I'm Annabelle and this is my husband Brandon and my son Jamie." She said in a thick British accent.

I shook it. "Alyssa, this is my husband Nikolai. Would you like to come in?"

The woman shook her head. "Oh no, we can't, we just decided to stop by and introduce ourselves, we have a dentist's appointment to get to."

The boy pulled at his mom's dress. "Momma, I don't wanna go. Can I stay with Alyna and Nikita?" I smiled at his attempt to say our names.

Annabelle laughed. "Honey, we can't. Maybe next time. Okay?"

"So, how do you like Rozera so far?" Brandon asked.

"It's great." Zach said. "I love it, it's different from Russia though, you know? And I definitely know that Aly here never expected it to be this good."

I whacked him lightly. "Yes, I didn't think it would be this wonderful here. I really do love it."

"So you two are Russian?" Brandon implored.

We nodded. "Lived there our whole lives." I added.

A convertible pulled up in front of the house and a woman, once again my age, started honking. "Anna, let's get a move on!" I couldn't see her eyes from behind her sunglasses but she must've actually noticed us that she said. "Hey there!"

I waved.

Annabelle cringed. "I'm sorry. That's Becca, short for Rebecca. She can be a bit… Well, let's just say spontaneous. Her husband, Shaun, is exactly the same. And I completely forgot that we were supposed to meet up today. Do you mind?"

My heart dropped at the name 'Rebecca', reminding me of Bex who had died when Gallagher had been bombed. The woman though had dark blonde hair.

"It's okay." I said. "Go ahead."

She smiled. "If you need anything we're three houses down across the street, we live in number 527. Becca is in 529, so she's right next to me. If you need anything, come by, we love guests."

"We will, thanks." Zach said. "It was nice meeting you guys."

"Likewise." Brandon said.

Jamie looked up at me. "Bye, Aly."

I grinned down at him. "Bye, Jamie. We'll see you later, okay?"

He smiled the most adorable smile. "Okay."

We shut the door once they left and were out of sight.

"Well, that went a lot better than with Kayla and Steve." I noted.

He slung his arm around me. "Yeah, I guess it did. I like these people, but I think they're hiding something."

I rolled my eyes. Of course he did. "Whatever you say. Go get changed, I'll make you dinner."

* * *

**Thought I'd make a few of you smile. Go to Google Translate, set it Italian to English, then type in 'male'. See what you get =P**

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**Btw: '_ч__ер__т' _in Russian means 'hell', so I guess you can say it's like 'crap' or 'shoot'.**

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**Another thing, I've put up a POLL of "Which story do you want me to update most?" so go vote for whichever you want, you can vote up to 2 choices. I don't know how long I'll keep it up.**

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**REVIEW!**

_**~Ivoryyy**_


	10. Fridays

**Haha I finally updated! And something tells me that you people will like this chapter... =P Enjoy!**

* * *

_"Sometimes we're forced to bend the truth, transform it, 'cause we're faced with things that are not of our own making. And sometimes things simply catch up to us."_

**_~Lucas Scott, One Tree Hill. Season 4, Episode 18- The Runaway Found _**

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Fridays were the best day of the week. For the past two months they'd gone by generally the same way. Wake up with Zach, make breakfast for Zach, watch Zach drive to work, have fun. The third step was mainly a transition into the second schedule of the day. Once the first schedule was over I'd call up Becca and Annabelle talk a bit, meet up at one of our houses, drink coffee, go somewhere, do something ridiculous, come home and wait for the husbands to arrive. Then we'd all have dinner together, watch One Tree Hill, listen to the husbands make stupid comments, smack husbands, go home, have hot and heavy sex. Maybe to that last part.

"Oh my gosh, did you hear about Clarissa?" Becca was saying. Right now we were at step one of our 'have fun' schedule. Call up Becca and Annabelle. Somehow Annabelle had figured out how to get our phones to work so that we could all talk to eachother at the same time. In our trio, she was the genius, Becca was the spontaneous one, and I was the drifter. I went with what they did, knowing that one day Zach and I may have to pack up our bags and move. _No attachments, _I heard Zach's voice say in my mind. But I couldn't help it, I felt like I actually belonged to something real here.

"No, what happened to her?" I asked. Annabelle was a listener, I did the questioning for the both of us.

Becca went off with the latest scandalous story and when the phone conversation was over we went over to her place. When I got there with Annabelle she was ranting at her kid, Jonathan. He was 5 years old. Becca had him when she was 18, now she was 22. Jonathan was a trouble maker. "Dammit, Jonathan, when I get up there you had better be in bed _without _your Nintendo!" She cast us an apologetic look before marching up the stairs. "You two go make coffee!" She called.

Annabelle and I headed to the kitchen. She started the coffee machine, I got out the snacks. By now we were all comfortable around eachother that being in eachother's homes was like being at our own home.

Becca stomped back down the stairs and collapsed into a chair.

"What happened this time?" Annabelle asked.

"The little mongrel decided today would be a good day to stay home and pretend to be sick." She sighed and put her face in her hands. "How do you do it, Annabelle? How do you have the perfect angelic child and I have a little demon that is hell bent on making my life chaos?"

She smiled at Becca sympathetically and handed her a coffee. "You know you don't mean that. Jonathan's a good kid when he tries. You just need to give him boundaries and enforce them, just not by screaming at him. That'll only make him do the opposite." We always had this conversation that I usually tuned out. Listening to them was sometimes depressing as I realized what exactly it was that I didn't have. Which in this case, was a family. I had Zach, sure, but we'd had no choice in that. What I wanted was a child, but we couldn't have one. It would be too difficult.

"-yssa?" I realized Becca had said my name and I looked up with a "Hm?"

"We were asking what you wanted to do today." Annabelle said.

"Oh sorry. I don't know, can you go anywhere Becca? 'Cause if Jonathan's sick-"

Becca held up a finger. "One, that little monster is not sick. And two, I can call the nanny."

"Okay then…" I considered the possibilities. "How about that café that just opened up on Waverly Lane? I heard it was good."

The two looked at eachother. "Sure, I've never been there." Annabelle said.

Becca shrugged. "Neither. I've been wanting to check it out." She stood up and went into the living room. "Hold on, I just gotta call the nanny and we can get outta here." So we waited 15 minutes till the nanny got there then we left.

The café was really cozy and warm. It was air-conditioned which was great after being out in the hot weather. Rozera had really strange temperatures; sometimes it would go up very high almost to 40°C or go down very low to single digits overnight.

We sat down in plush brown chairs by the window and ordered our drinks. I got a frappuccino, Annabelle got a latte, and Becca got more coffee. Our order came and we talked and talked and talked. Soon enough we were at step six of the 'have fun' schedule.

This time dinner was going to be at our house. Annabelle had brought Jamie over and Becca had brought Jonathan. Jonathan was running around the house with a toy airplane while Jamie was standing on a chair helping with what he could.

Annabelle set a plate on the table and out a bowl of chopped vegetables beside it. "Here, honey, you can set up these veggies on the plate. Make it look nice for Daddy, okay?" Jamie nodded, hopped down from his chair, moved it, hopped up again and began to set up the vegetables.

I smiled. "He's such a cute kid."

Annabelle smiled too. "He's wonderful. Sometimes I wonder how I got so lucky."

Becca turned on the tap and rinsed her knife. "You got lucky by getting lucky."

It took Annabelle a few moments to understand but when she did she smacked her with a towel. "Perv. You make the act of love sound so frivolous."

Becca leaned over to her. "_Speak English_, cyborg_._ You make the English language sound like gibberish."

"Yeah? Well, at least-"

The door opened and I rushed to the foyer, glad for the intrusion on what would've been a session of bickering. "They're home!"

"Daddy!" Jamie cried, his little feet bounding to the door.

He hopped into Brandon's arms while I approached Zach. He wrapped his arms around me and kissed the top of my head. "Hey, how was work?" I asked.

"Same as usual." He said. "A lot of paperwork, a lot of signatures, and a lot of boring conversations. How about you? Did you guys have fun?"

"Yep. We're trying out a new recipe so if it completely sucks lie and say you love it." I said.

He laughed. "Gotcha. I'll be right back, I have to change." Brandon, Shaun, and Zach all met up after work on Fridays, changed, then came over to whosever house it was we were eating at. So Brandon and Shaun were already in their normal clothes.

After dinner the nannies came and took Jonathan and Jamie home. We all settled in front of the TV, Becca, Shaun, and Zach on the floor, the rest of us on the couch.

Becca sat in front of the DVD player. "Does anyone remember where we left off? I think I fell asleep last time."

"Uh, I'm pretty sure that today we're supposed to watch episode 18-"

"Season 4." Becca jutted in. "Right." She popped out the disc and put it in the player. "Okay people! Let's do this!"

The first third of the episode went by generally without too many comments. Later was when they started coming.

"Poor Peyton." Annabelle said. "She's been through so much yet bad things keep happening to her."

"Sometimes life sucks that way." Becca commented.

"I think Peyton's weird, she's too much of a drama queen." Brandon added.

"She's got nice legs." Shaun said. That earned him a whack on the head from Becca. "Ow! What was that for!" She ignored him and continued watching.

I got up and went to the kitchen to get us some fruits. Absentmindedly I listened to both the TV and chose the food. Well, I more just listened.

Otherwise I would've realized that I'd just made the biggest mistake ever.

I came back and put the plate down. I took a mango and shared it with Zach. Halfway through it Becca looked up at us and noticed. "Hey, aren't you allergic to mangoes, Nik?" We glanced at eachother and felt a change in the atmosphere. A very very bad one. By now I knew the feeling I got when we'd been caught. All of a sudden everyone was up, the TV show forgotten.

"Who are you?" I said at the same time as Becca.

"Becca, don't-" Annabelle cautioned, but too late. Becca had pulled out a gun and pointed it at me. Then everyone else had a gun out. Annabelle, Becca, Shaun, and Brandon were on the same side, so therefore most guns were pointed at us.

"Don't make me repeat the question." Becca warned.

"I'll answer your question if you answer mine. Who are you and who do you work for?" I said. Technically two questions.

"We work for no one." She said. That's when she slipped up and her real accent came through. An accent that I hadn't heard since the day I'd ran away with Zach from Gallagher.

I lowered my gun. "Bex?"

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**BAM! Cliffy! Tell me what you like, your favourite QUOTES, whatever! The more GOOD reviews the more likely i am to update... doesnt that sound tempting? **

**You know you love me, XOXO,**

_**~Ivoryyy ;)**_


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